Wednesday, February 12, 2020

EQ8 ++ Importing Fabric Series ++ Post 1

I am so happy to hear that quilter's are enjoying my EQ8 tips and tricks posts.  I asked for suggestions on what you wanted to learn and I heard from multiple quilters that they would like to know more about how to import fabrics into EQ8.


The topic is a bit too much for a single post so I will be posting a series on importing fabrics into EQ8.  The blog series will post every Wednesday and will include the following topics:

  • Post 1 - Importing fabrics from Electric Quilt into EQ8 ← this post
  • Post 2 - Importing fabrics from fabric manufacturer sites into EQ8
  • Post 3 - Importing fabrics from other sources into EQ8
  • Post 4 - Resizing and cropping fabrics in EQ8 to correct fabric print scale
  • Post 5 - Adding fabrics to "My Library" for future use

Today we will be handling the first topic:


Importing fabrics from Electric Quilt into EQ8

Importing fabric swatches directly from Electric Quilt is the easiest and best way (in my opinion) of getting correctly scaled, fabric images with good color representation.

Electric Quilt offers a free monthly set of fabric swatches to download (previous months are also available) and large EQ Stash bundles for purchase.

To find and install the free monthly fabric sets:

1. In your internet browser, go to www.ElectricQuilt.com.  Under the Electric Quilt logo, select Free Downloads and then Free Fabric Downloads.








2. This brings up the Do You EQ? page with the free fabrics of the month.  The current month is at the top and previous month's sets are below.  Click the download button and select PC or MAC.





3.  On a PC, once the .exe is finished downloading, you can begin the installation of the fabrics.  Clicking the .exe will launch a window similar to installation windows for other applications.







4.  Once the fabric of the month file is installed it will automatically show up in your Fabric Library so these fabrics will be available for every project in EQ8, there is no need to reload them for each project.  This is a great advantage compared to importing fabric swatches from the sources.  Additionally, the fabric on the swatches are scaled correctly so the designs will show up as the correct size in your quilt.

You can find the February fabrics:  EQ Libraries → 2020 Fabric of Month → 02 Moda-Mackinac Island → Mackinac Island by Minick & Simpson



To find and install the EQ Stash fabric bundles:

1.  In the middle of the the main www.ElectricQuilt.com page, there is a button to shop for EQ8 Add-ons.





2.  This will bring up different EQ Stash downloads organized by year.  Each bundle is $7.95 (but you can use EQ8CHERYL for 20% off through March 31, 2020) for 1,100+ fabric swatches in each bundle.


I hope you try downloading a free monthly fabric set and EQ Stash bundle from Electric Quilt!  For the next blog post, I will be showing you some different places fabric swatches can be downloaded and how they can be used.








The Electric Quilt Company is generously offering a special coupon code for my readers.  Use can use EQ8CHERYL for 20% off of their entire website, ElectricQuilt.com (EQ8, EQ8 upgrades, books, add-ons, etc.). The code is good until March 31, 2020.













4 comments:

  1. Great series idea! Looking forward to seeing more :) xo

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  2. Wonderful series....feel free to link up as many as you want each month on #TTot22 after the 22nd. Look forward to class next week with you at QuiltCon!

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  3. I have to concentrate and read all your eq8 tips. I think it’s difficult to use... well I’m not technical either.

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  4. Thank you for this invaluable information. I've downloaded fabric swatches from the manufacturers, but I just followed your instructions and downloading from the EQ8 website is incredibly easy. While I was in my EQ8 looking at the downloads, I dug around in my fabric library. I'm ashamed to admit that I've been fumbling around for years trying to represent colors that I planned to use, and I just discovered that the solids are in my library by manufacturer. Sheesh.... I'm really looking forward to learning more in your QuiltCon class on Friday morning.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!